Leighton Meester Pens Thoughtful Feminist Essay About Her 'Of Mice and Men' Character

Leighton Meester and her husband Adam Brody take their dogs Penny Lane and Trudy for a walk in the park on Thursday morning (July 17) in New York City.

The 28-year-old actress recently opened up about feminism and her character in Of Mice and Men on Broadway.

“The insults are thrown at Curley’s wife: bitch, tramp, tart. The further along in the production we go, the more I realize that the audience agrees,” Leighton wrote for HuffPo. “In rooting for our heroes — the everyman protagonists who scorn and demean the only woman — the audience finds themselves unquestioningly hating her, too. But why? Of course, in playing this character, as with any other project, I care for her and have found common ground with even her specific flaws; I would expect my affection for her to be above those watching from the audience. But in dissecting this piece for five months now, I’ve found that within the writing, there is both a lack of reason to truly hate this woman, and the inevitable and undeniable urge to do so.”